Jocelyn Prêcheur previews Aston Villa clash with focus on London City Lionesses’ identity and belief
On the back of a reassuring victory against Tottenham Hotspur Women, London City Lionesses stand in good stead ahead of a trip to Villa Park this weekend.
Head coach, Jocelyn Prêcheur addressed the media as his newly promoted side aim to continue their positive form and make their mark in the Barclays Women’s Super League.
Team news
Regarding team news, Prêcheur provided a similar update to previous weeks, with no major changes to his available squad. Despite taking a suspected concussion knock at the weekend, he confirmed that Julia Roddar is fit for the matchday squad against Villa.
Some positive news from the training pitch is the return of both Sofia Jakobsson and Isa Kardinaal to the training pitch. As they are in the closing stages of their rehabilitation processes, their return to the matchday squad is expected in coming weeks, all being well.
Young Lioness, Freya Godfrey was the standout player in last weekend’s London Derby. The youngster came out with Barclays Player of the Match, after contributing two goals and one assist to London City’s victory. When asked about her role in the squad, Prêcheur praised her emergence into the starting eleven and maturity for such a young player, but also spoke about the improvements she can make to her own game:
“We are talking about a very talented player, but not only. I like, you know, she's so much more mature of the way she managed herself, the discipline she has before after training is really a good example to follow for me. So, I'm happy for her, she starts to get the result of her, of her hard work.
And after this is, it was a capacity to attack the space, her capacity to speed, but without but with the ball also, brings me more options in the attacking side and maybe a balance I didn't have before. When you play with a mini striker who are very good between the lines in small spaces, one moment, you also need especially against in England where many teams come and press you high, so you need also this capacity to attack the space behind, and this is what she brings in a bright way, many times in the way she did against Tottenham.
Now we can develop a lot of things with her and I want her to increase a self-confidence about trying to dribble in 1v1, trying to shoot. Not only stay at the winger and find the cross, she can do so much more than that. With the skill she has, she can become a complete striker. We have many things to keep working on, but the way she wrote is fully satisfying. And I'm very grateful to work with her, a very good asset for the club.”
The head coach complimented several of his young players, reminding that they are still working towards the peak of their career, evolving and developing each day:
“Now, I'm very happy about the evolution of Freya. I agree with you when you say she made the difference. She's one of the players who really made the difference last weekend, and she has a strong impact on the result.
But she's not the only one, for example, defensively, Wassa Sangare, Rofiat Imuran, also made a great performance to, to get the result, and to get this report. So, yes, they are young, but they increase their self-confidence some day after Sunday. And it's very interesting for me.
Now the biggest challenge for them, because we I never had any doubt about their capacity to perform in that level. The biggest challenge for all these players is to be consistent. And this is the most difficult thing. So, get used to this league, get used to this rhythm. It's difficult, physically speaking, because their body is not ready yet, and still developing too.”
On Sunday’s opponent
On the back of a 1-0 victory over title challengers, Manchester United, Natalia Arroyo’s Villa side are full of confidence and in a positive run of form. With only one defeat in the WSL so far, Prêcheur could only agree that this will be a tough challenge for his side as he complimented their opponents:
“Yeah, very, very tough. I really like the way they are playing, how they evolve. Very well organised, offensively, defensively, very precise in the organisation. So, another very tough test for us, especially away. So, no, I have the feeling to repeat myself every weekend, but of course, I expect a very tough game against them.
But very, very interesting as a coach because I expect, of course, physical battle, mental battle, but tactically it will be very interesting also.”
When questioned about Arroyo’s winning mentality and determination to lead her team into a better position than last season, Prêcheur agreed that strong preparation is in order to challenge Villa:
“Oh, yeah, of course, when you play against a team which we saw well organised, very precise, as I said, offensively, defensively. You need to do the same. You need to be very precise as a way you can, you can find the way you can express yourself despite the organisation of the opponent. So, and, and it's a big part of my job to make the player aware of the strengths and the weaknesses of the opponent when they have some witnesses. And to try to take benefits of that.
So, we work, we work well this week and I'm very excited to see how we can respond against a good team and a good opponent.”
Emerging as a competitive club
As the newest promoted side to the WSL, London City took some time to establish themselves as strong competitors within the league.
Whilst the team are starting to showcase their own identity and style of play, the head coach is certain they still need to work harder to improve and emerge as a competitive club who could threaten those at the top. However, his full focus is not upon their finish in the WSL this season, but their development and progression:
“We still are a new team in so many ways, so we need to keep working, keep improving before thinking about where we can go and which position in the table we can have; we will see that at the end of the season.”
Looking at the positives, London City Lionesses have already scored twelve goals in the WSL, with a goal to their name in every fixture so far, except against Chelsea. When asked about how much confidence their attacking prowess brings the squad and Prêcheur himself, he reminded that they are still pushing for more consistency within the attack:
“We are in a good way. But we still need to walk on that and to be more consistent and be more efficient, offensively speaking.”
However, London City have conceded eighteen goals already this season, proving them vulnerable in their defensive structure. The head coach spoke about this and reminded that as the team grow together, their defensive problems will be much easier to address as a collective:
“So, of course, when we play such a big team, like Arsenal and Manchester United, Manchester City so early in the season, and you are not ready defensively, you pay the price; you face the consequences immediately. But this is one of the points I'm satisfied.
Now we defend better. Far from being perfect, for sure, but it's, it's also linked to the, the group we are creating, the cohesion. I can see now, players start to know more about the other players and we start, only recently I start to see a group, a real group, which where we leave together, we train, and we play together. I was satisfied about our performance, defensively speaking, against Chelsea, which was so much more, which was so much better.”
It was also made clear that the head coach does not push for his team to earn a clean sheet, as his vision is focused more on scoring goals and attacking with intent:
“About clean sheets, I don't know, is not a priority for me. If you ask me, if I prefer to, to win one nil, or four two, I prefer to win four two, or four three. So, in terms of number of clean sheets, if you have to blame someone, probably me, but this is not a priority for me.”
London City Lionesses will travel to Villa Park, where they plan to take all three points from an in-form Aston Villa side this Sunday (12:00 KO BST).